Visual Frame Research Articles

Visual communication and public relations: Visual frame building strategies in war and conflict stories

Considering the pervasiveness of social media platforms that foreground visuals over text and the consequent rise of visually acculturated publics, this study examined the visual frame building strategies employed by international news media and organizational communication personnel in their coverage of war, conflict and humanitarian crises. Findings generated through 15 in-depth elite interviews with senior media and communication practitioners drawn from large, international news and multilateral organizations revealed four main visual frame building strategies. These strategies include audience-centered strategies of (1) using strong narrative pictures to create a compelling visual hook (2) selecting humanized and personalized images to cut through compassion fatigue, and (3) scripting to the visual; and humanitarian organizations’ character-centred strategy of (4) eschewing negative imagery in favour of framing the characters using positive frames of agency and dignity. These rich insights are explained by the simultaneous influences of traditional and social media, particularly the trend of humanization and personalization of subjects in war and conflict stories, a development largely effected by social media logics. Implications for public relations theory and practice are discussed.

Psychometric evaluation of recall and recognition tasks for the measurement of young spectators’ theatrical memory

The purpose of this research is the construction and psychometric evaluation of seven categories of recall and recognition tasks for the measurement of young spectators’ theatrical memory, based on the respective theatre codes of a specific performance for young spectators. The aim of those tasks is the evaluation of the young spectators’ mnemonic recordings on a level a) the actors’ representation of the characters on stage (acting), b) the visual frame of the performance, c) the audio code d) the lights, e) the dramatic text, f) the plot/action and g) the Shadow Theatre technique.
 The recall and recognition tasks were constructed according to the Classical Test Theory of Question Analysis on a sample of 5th Grade Primary School pupils (i.e. ten-year-old pupils), who had seen this specific performance addressed to young spectators and were evaluated with the Factor Analysis method. For the evaluation of the quality of the questions, we took into consideration the difficulty coefficient of each question, the discriminant coefficient and the evaluation of the correlation level of expert judges. For the psychometric control of the tests we examined the validity of their conceptual construct via inquiry factor analysis and the internal validity coefficient.
 The result of the above tasks was the creation of seven reliable and valid measurement tools, in which no gender effect is inferred.

Persona as Key Component in (Cultural) Person Branding

This article examines the elements and processes involved in the visual construction of person brands, and their personas as key components of those brands, in pursuit of the research question: What pictorial design strategies make person brands succeed? Key findings of the empirical investigation of the iconic artist brand Madonna allow a focus on Madonna’s image and her fans’ co-creative image practice through a visual frame analysis and cultural reading of her self-brand. Madonna has created a complex ‘worldview world’ that is governed by a metanarrative and feeds on the diverse acts of referencing cultural image icons. At the same time, central strategies of her image representations are reflected in the fan artefacts investigated. This article thus focuses not only on the role of the visual in person branding and in a modern-day visual brand culture. It also considers the place and form of such cultural person branding within the persona studies field.

Politicking and Visual Framing on Instagram: A Look at the Portrayal of the Leadership of Canada’s Justin Trudeau

While digital media have become a central component of the contemporary political communication mediascape, many politicians have still not fully embraced this digital shift. However, Justin Trudeau and his team understood quickly that these platforms were powerful public outreach and engagement tools. Since his election as prime minister of Canada, Trudeau has been able to exploit the image-making and framing capabilities of digital media platforms to roll out a strategic narrative about his political leadership. Building on an analysis of all posts on his Instagram account during the year following his election as prime minister of Canada, this article is taking a close look at how Trudeau turned to visual framing in his Instagram posts to generate strategic political narratives, which emphasized and reinforced seven traits of his political leadership: 1) innovative leader at the helm of a prosperous country; 2) leader dedicated to positive policies; 3) leader dedicated to national unity; 4) leader promoting and respecting minority and marginalized communities; 5) comforting and reassuring leader; 6) leader valuing international dialogue and respect; 7) relatable leader. In doing so, this research work provides insights of interest into a specific dimension of the visual political communication strategy deployed by elected official on Instagram. More importantly, this article contributes to ongoing academic work on dynamics of visual political image-making and framing on social media in Canada and abroad.

The visual framing of Malaysia's National Day Press advertisement in Utusan Melayu / Malaysia from 1957 to 2007

Press advertisement is one of the area of graphic communication. However, dedicated research on it has received little attention from researchers. This study discusses the use of press advertisement as a medium of communication to spread the message of National Day Celebration in Malaysia. This study, using advertisements that appear in Utusan Melayu / Malaysia in August and September commencing in 1957 until 2007. This study is a qualitative study using the method of document analysis. The visual evaluations will be applied in interview with an expert in advertising. The results show that there is a link between the visual framing of National Day advertisement with socioeconomic status, current political context, and the diversity of religious and racial communities. The implications of this study will provide a new discovery and documentation as a reference to the creative arts and design community and society.

Framing the Path to Conformity: Comics Strategies and Social Justice in Barbara Yelin’s Irmina

This article examines Barbara Yelin’s 2014 graphic novel Irmina in order to investigate the visual narrative strategies employed by the cartoonist in revealing her protagonist’s path to conformity under National Socialism. Yelin thereby also seeks to raise awareness of social justice and personal responsibilities in the comic’s readership. I use Judith Butler’s conceptions of framing and precarious life from Frames of War (2009) as an interpretive lens to read the comics medium’s convention of panel frames and storytelling through individual panels separated by the space of the gutter. I demonstrate how the interplay of text and image in Irmina reveals the importance of visual framing in developing compassion and recognizing the lives of others as precarious. Through this narrative strategy essential to the comics form, Irmina’s decline to a Mitläufer underscores the role of visibility—or lack thereof—in the lives framed and recognized as precarious under the Third Reich.

The Problem of Recreating Humor in the Audiovisual Translation From Bulgarian Into Russian

The paper examines the problem of recreating humor in the audiovisual translation of films and television series from Bulgarian into Russian. The translation of humor in audiovisual works in closely related languages is a very serious problem, as in the apparent similarity and the presence of purely linguistic correspondences, there are differences in the peculiarities of the speech usage of the target audience, in the perception of visual frames and in the general cultural context. Therefore, the phenomenon of false expectations often turns out to be overwhelmed by the fact that the viewer from the other culture does not understand at all or does not immediately understand the comic discrepancies. It should be noted that audiovisual works have fluidity, i.e. the rate of presentation of the material (as opposed to reading a written text, for example, or going through a videogame) is not set by the recipient. For this reason, an unsuccessful translation can significantly hamper the understanding of humor and jokes, as well as the suddenness and intuitiveness of their perception. The viewer does not experience the funny moment as planned by the creators of the work. Therefore, the translation of humor into closely related languages should be the subject of a separate study that takes into account the cultural aspect and is based on a similar perception of visual images by the target audiences.

Taking us to the Vulnerability Scene: Television News Coverage and Framing of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria

Abstract Despite the growing interest in the internally displaced person's (IDPs) media coverage in developing countries, studies on visual coverage are still in their embryonic stages. In this view, we examined Television news coverage of IDPs in Nigeria. We studied two broadcasting channels; Channels TV and the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) from October 2018 to October 2019. We also interviewed some journalists and editors who reported and edited stories on IDPs. We anchored our study on the framing theory. Results showed that the two media outlets covered (n = 102) stories of IDPs. However, the private media (Channels TV) paid more attention to IDPs. Also, the private press placed more IDPs stories on its headline and most of which appeared in the first two headlines. Additional findings showed a significant difference in the visual frames; the private media used more visual and motion footages. Results from the interviews suggest that media ownership and control, media sources, advertisers, lack of adequate training, insufficient remuneration/incentive, and competition/ deadline syndrome influence media framing and coverage of IDPs in Nigeria. We concluded with some theoretical and practical implications.

Effects of neck muscle vibration on subjective visual vertical in an altered visual frame of reference

Rod and Frame Testing (RFT) has been used to investigate the effects of an altered visual frame of reference on subjective visual vertical. RFT requires an individual to align a luminous rod as best they can with true vertical.

The intersemiotic affordances of photography and poetry

Abstract This article explores the intersemiotic affordances of photography and poetry and the expansion of meaning that surpasses the meanings embedded in and elicited from both. We specifically investigate the processes and mechanisms of this semantic expansion by systematically reconstructing the compositional process of poems written from three photographs and forensically investigate how the poems emerged out of each visual frame. We discovered that intersemiosis between photography and poetry demonstrates a strong interpretative component. Intra-semiotic connections between elements within the photograph are interpreted by the viewer or writer and are translated by means of inter-semiotic triggers into intra-semiotic connections within the emerging poem during the process of composition. The resulting inter-semiotic connections between the photograph and the poem create and multiply meaning for both mediums together and independently. In other words, in the process of composition, the poem reads the meanings of components of the photograph framed by the photographer and super-frames them; creating a new frame of meanings that draw upon, and extend, meanings in the original frame of the photograph. At the same time, the poem enters a stage of self-change and self-reflection, inhabiting the life of the photograph.

Environmental visualizations: Framing and reframing between science, policy and society

Visualizations are influential in the interaction between environmental science and policy. Research on framing in environmental visualizations (visual framing) is expanding. These studies typically focus on ‘static’ images; the visualizations themselves. However, framing already occurs during their production through the choices made by their producers, and visualizations may be reframed while traveling across boundaries between science, policy and society. So far, visual framing during the production process and reframing during their circulation remains relatively unexplored and undertheorized, a gap which the current research aims to address. As an empirical case, we studied visualizations produced by a boundary organization, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL). We conducted interviews, focus groups, and a media-analysis. Our results show that although producers of visualizations were aware of potential framing through the objects depicted or simplifications in data, they were less aware of conceptual and ideological levels of visual framing and potential reframing when their visualizations circulate. Visual framing during production involved trade-offs in clarity, correctness and relevance, and contrasting perspectives among producers on intended audiences. When visualizations circulated, they were republished by multiple audiences and modified in various ways such as adjusting color, form and aggregating data. These reproductions and modifications resulted in different and contrasting frames compared to the original images. We demonstrate that environmental visualizations are powerful framing devices that can easily transcend the boundaries between science, policy and society. We thus highlight the need for boundary organizations to acknowledge visual framing effects in influencing these science-policy-society interactions.

“Picturing” Xenophobia: Visual Framing of Masks During COVID-19 and Its Implications for Advocacy in Technical Communication

This article reviews images of people of Asian descent wearing masks in popular press articles discussing mask shortages and argues that visual framing had the potential of fueling racial antagonism during the initial months of COVID-19’s spread across the United States. Technical communicators need to include globalized perspectives in educational materials about masks as an advocacy strategy that can help communities and individuals to navigate the crisis situation and better protect themselves and those around them.

Visual Priming and Framing During the 2020 Democratic Presidential Debates: Electoral Status Predicts Favorable Camera Treatment

The 2020 Democratic presidential primary debates provide a unique opportunity to systematically evaluate network visual production choices in a multicandidate context. The joint decision of the Democratic National Committee and NBC to include an expansive field of twenty contenders through “prime-time” debates on consecutive nights (June 26 and 27, 2019) provided for a natural experiment with equal numbers of top- and second-tier candidates randomly assigned to each night. In this preregistered study, we evaluate whether candidates are treated differently in the amount of camera time they receive (visual priming) and types of camera shots they appear in (visual framing) based on electoral status. We replicate a study of the initial two Democratic and Republican 2016 presidential primary debates for each party and that found the top-two candidates received substantially better visual coverage than all others. We confirm and extend these findings by evaluating different operationalizations of electoral status (top-two, top-tier, stage position, and poll standing). Findings suggest that when visual priming is considered, stage position outperforms other electoral status indicators in terms of explaining variance for total camera and average fixation time. In terms of visual framing, head-and-shoulder “one-shots” are better predicted by top-tier status, whereas public opinion poll standing predicts increased time spent in multiple-candidate shots. Finally, appearances in “two-shots” (side-by-side and split-screen portrayals) were not significantly explained by electoral status, likely due to the paucity of these depictions.

Information on the COVID-19 Pandemic in Daily Newspapers' Front Pages: Case Study of Spain and Italy.

Spain and Italy are amongst the European countries where the COVID-19 pandemic has produced its major impact and where lockdown measures have been the harshest. This research aims at understanding how the corona crisis has been represented in Spanish and Italian media, focusing on reference newspapers. The study analyzes 72 front pages of El País and El Mundo in Spain and Italy’s Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica, collecting 710 news items and 3456 data evidences employing a mixed method (both qualitative and quantitative) based on content analysis and hemerographic analysis. Results show a predominance of informative journalistic genres (especially brief and news), while the visual framing emerging from the photographic choice, tend to foster humanization through an emotional representation of the pandemic. Politicians are the most represented actors, showing a high degree of politicization of the crisis.

"The visual framing of Egyptian women in 25th January revolution” A comparative study between the coverage of “AlShorouk” & “ElMasry elyoum” newspapers

"The visual framing of Egyptian women in 25th January revolution” A comparative study between the coverage of “AlShorouk” & “ElMasry elyoum” newspapers

Young and Older Adults Differ in Integration of Sensory Cues for Vertical Perception.

Introduction The subjective visual vertical (SVV) measures the perception of a person's spatial orientation relative to gravity. Weighted central integration of vestibular, visual, and proprioceptive inputs is essential for SVV perception. Without any visual references and minimal proprioceptive contribution, the static SVV reflects balance of the otolith organs. Normal aging is associated with bilateral and progressive decline in otolith organ function, but age-dependent effects on SVV are inconclusive. Studies on sensory reweighting for visual vertical and multisensory integration strategies reveal age-dependent differences, but most studies have included elderly participants in comparison to younger adults. The aim of this study was to compare young adults with older adults, an age group younger than the elderly. Methods Thirty-three young and 28 older adults (50–65 years old) adjusted a tilted line accurately to their perceived vertical. The rod's final position from true vertical was recorded as tilt error in degrees. For otolithic balance, visual vertical was recorded in the dark without any visual references. The rod and frame task (RFT) with tilted disorienting visual frames was used for creating visuovestibular conflict. We adopted Nyborg's analysis method to derive the rod and frame effect (RFE) and trial-to-trial variability measures. Rod alignment times were also analyzed. Results There was no age difference in signed tilts of SVV without visual reference. There was an age effect on RFE and on overall trial-to-trial variability of rod tilt, with older adults displaying larger frame effects and greater variability in rod tilts. Alignment times were longer in the tilted-frame conditions for both groups and in the older adults compared to their younger counterparts. The association between tilt accuracy and tilt precision was significant for older adults only during visuovestibular conflict, revealing an increase in RFE with an increase in tilt variability. Correlation of σSVV, which represents vestibular input precision, with RFE yielded exactly the same contribution of σSVV to the variance in RFE for both age groups. Conclusions Older adults have balanced otolithic input in an upright position. Increased reliance on visual cues may begin at ages younger than what is considered elderly. Increased alignment times for older adults may create a broader time window for integration of relevant and irrelevant sensory information, thus enhancing their multisensory integration. In parallel with the elderly, older adults may differ from young adults in their integration of sensory cues for visual vertical perception.

Testing Three Measures of Verbal–Visual Frame Interplay in German News Coverage of Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Drawing from framing theory, this article operationalizes and tests three ways to measure how verbal and visual modalities interplay in audiovisual messages to produce meaning. The measures include (a) a ratio of verbal to visual frames; (b) an association rules learning (ARL) procedure; and (c) in-depth analysis of the full audiovisual material. As a step toward validating the measures, they were applied to a sample of German television news stories ( n = 98) about refugees and asylum seekers. Though the three measures produced varied results, verbal–visual frame redundancy and congruence were consistently more common than mismatches. Measures differed in the level of effort required to implement them, sample sizes they could handle, and the informative value of results. Future studies are advised to combine the ARL procedure with an in-depth analysis.

Infância, cultura visual e educação

This article combines thoughts about childhood, visual culture and education. It is known that we live among multiple images that shape the way we see our reality, and researchers in the visual culture field investigate how this role is played out in our culture. The goal is to make some applications those ideas, to think about the relationship between the images and education. This article tries to grasp what visual culture is and in what ways presumptions about childhood generate and are generated by this association. It also discusses the genesis of these presumptions and the images they generate through a philosophical approach, questioning the role of education in a culture tied to the media, and about how children, who are familiar with multiple screens, presage a new visual literacy. We see how images play a fundamental role in the way children give meaning to the world around them and to themselves, in the context of their local culture. Given this context, it is necessary to consider how visual culture is tied to the elementary school, and what challenges confront the generation of wider and more creative ways to approach visual framing in children’s education.

Relaxing topological surfaces in four dimensions

In this paper, we show the use of visualization and topological relaxation methods to analyze and understand the underlying structure of mathematical surfaces embedded in 4D. When projected from 4D to 3D space, mathematical surfaces often twist, turn, and fold back on themselves, leaving their underlying structures behind their 3D figures. Our approach combines computer graphics, relaxation algorithm, and simulation to facilitate the modeling and depiction of 4D surfaces, and their deformation toward the simplified representations. For our principal test case of surfaces in 4D, this for the first time permits us to visualize a set of well-known topological phenomena beyond 3D that otherwise could only exist in the mathematician’s mind. Understanding a fairly long mathematical deformation sequence can be aided by visual analysis and comparison over the identified “key moments” where only critical changes occur in the sequence. Our interface is designed to summarize the deformation sequence with a significantly reduced number of visual frames. All these combine to allow a much cleaner exploratory interface for us to analyze and study mathematical surfaces and their deformation in topological space.

Entangled memories of human rights in Kristina Norman’s video art: space, visual frames, politics of art

ABSTRACT This article deals with entangled acts of memory in contemporary art that intertwine memories of a violent past with human rights violations or experiences of bloody conflicts in the present to study their potential for solidarity and justice. The article argues that the aim of Kristina Norman’s video art is not only to create awareness of human rights issues in the present, but to also reflect on esthetic, ethical, and political problems related to entangled remembering, in particular (1) the role of space as a trigger of entangled memory, (2) the role of discursive norms and visual frames in the asymmetrical distribution of recognition, and (3) questions of the politics of art dealing with human rights, cultural memory, and recognition.